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A national tea party group is asking for permission to keep their donors secret — just like the socialists.

Citing a long litany of harassment examples, the Tea Party Leadership Fund is asking the Federal Election Commission for the same right granted to the Socialist Workers Party to shield the names and information of their donors from the public.

In a new request to the FEC shared with POLITICO, the group argues that tea party donors and activists are being targeted for harassment by government officials and private groups — and they cite derogatory comments by politicians and overbearing government investigations as evidence.

“Nobody likes the communists and really for good reason,” said Dan Backer, the attorney for the group who wrote and filed the complaint. But, Backer said, the same legal principle that grants left-wring groups the right to hide their donors should also cover tea party groups.

“As we very thoroughly document at almost three times the length of the socialist request, tea party supporters are subject to an unprecedented level of harassment and abuse,” Backer said. >>>

Federal courts have also granted special disclosure exemptions to the Communist Party, Socialist Action and the Freedom Socialist Party. >>>

Backer and the Tea Party Leadership Fund argues that the IRS scandal coupled with comments by President Barack Obama, top administration officials and members of Congress is ample evidence that tea party groups and their donors and activists have been specifically targeted for harassment by high ranking government officials.

To document those abuses, Backer shipped a 1,438 page appendix cataloging his evidence to the FEC via FedEx. >>>

Other evidence: Obama’s use of the pejorative term “tea-baggers,” Vice President Joe Biden’s comments that tea party activists were acting like “terrorists,” and hundreds of examples of members of Congress, and administration officials speaking negatively of the movement.

“It’s the president, it’s the House and the Senate. It’s numerous federal agencies,” Backer said.